The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for the non-invasive determination of blood pressure.
Direct measurement of blood pressure with a pressure measuring device such as a tonometer is difficult in a clinical setting. A problem with tonometer readings is that although the times of the systolic and diastolic pressures are correct, the pressure readings may have an incorrect scaling or have an offset in the recorded pressure. Tonometer measurements can depend on the position of the tonometer, artery and bone structure behind the artery.
Another prior art system used to determine arterial pressures is an automated oscillometric device called a "Dinamap" (device for indirect non-invasive mean arterial pressure). This device is described in a paper entitled "Arterial Pressure Monitoring: Automated Oscillometric Devices"; M. Ramsey III; Journal of Clinical Monitoring; Volume 7, No. 1; January 1991; pp. 56-67. This system uses a cuff to supply an external pressure to an artery. The cuff pressure is stepped in increments from a pressure believed to be above the systolic pressure to a pressure believed to be below the diastolic pressure. An arterial volumetric indication is monitored by the system. For example, a pressure transducer attached to the cuff will give some indication of the volume of the artery, since the pressure in the cuff will be greater when the artery volume is high. When the mean value of the arterial blood pressure is about the same as the external cuff pressure, the amplitude of the variations of the volumetric indication will be the greatest. In this way, an indication of the mean arterial pressure can be obtained. A disadvantage of this prior art system is the considerable time it takes to obtain the arterial pressure information. Many cardiac cycles are needed to obtain the data required to determine a blood pressure.
An alternative system is described in "Vibration Technique for Indirect Measurement of Diastolic Arterial Pressure in Human Fingers"; Shimazu, et al.; Medical and Biological Engineering in Computing; March 1999; Volume 27; pp. 130-136. This paper describes a method for obtaining a diastolic pressure which is somewhat similar to the oscillometric technique used with the Dinamap. In the Shimazu, et al. system, a small oscillation is placed on the cuff pressure. A plethysmograph is used to get a volumetric indication of the volume of the artery. The output of the plethysmograph will show a high-frequency component imposed on a pulsatile component. The cuff pressure is ramped or stepped in a manner similar to the Dinamap system. In the cardiac cycle where the cuff pressure is roughly equal to the diastolic pressure, the amplitude of the high-frequency component of the volumetric indication will be greater in the diastolic period of that cycle than at the diastolic period of any other cycle. In this way, the diastolic pressure can be determined. Like the Dinamap system, the Shimazu, et al. system is relatively slow. Many cardiac cycles are required to determine a single blood pressure value.
Another prior art system is described in Penaz U.S. Pat. No. 4,869,261. Penaz describes a vascular unloading system. Vascular unloading systems attempt to cause the external applied pressure to be equal to the arterial blood pressure at all times. These systems use a plethysmograph and a feedback loop in order to adjust the external pressure so that it tracks the arterial pressure. A disadvantage of this system is that, when the external pressure tracks the arterial pressure, the mean applied pressure is relatively high. For this reason, the system described in Penaz may be uncomfortable or painful to use. Additionally, vascular unloading systems tend to produce a pressure signal that is off from the real arterial pressure by a DC offset.
The systems of Palti U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,544 and Sramek U.S. Pat. No. 4,343,314 use very fast ramped external pressures. A disadvantage of these systems is that the required very fast ramped pressures may be impractical to produce. In particular, it may be difficult to use a cuff to apply the external pressures because of the relatively long periods of time required to inflate or deflate a cuff. Additionally, the quick external pressure ramp could be uncomfortable.
Therefore, it is desired to have a method and apparatus for obtaining a blood pressure that can avoid long measurement times or high applied external pressures.